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158 DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBORG.
1
would be their elevation in the Lord’s kingdom, either to
the first, second, or third heaven. His flock were ex
tremely delighted to hear his remarks concerning heaven ;
and the manner in which he explained to them how the
love of the Lord above all things, and the love of our
neighbour even better than ourselves, constitutes the life
and soul of the heavenly kingdom, served, no doubt, to
kindle that celestial fire of mutual love amongst his
people, which made them a bright and shining light’
to all around them. For the numerous instances of
remarkable self-denial, of benevolence to the orphan,
widow, and stranger ; of liberal contributions from their
scanty means to procure Bibles for those in the sur
rounding districts, that did not possess the Word of God,
and to purchase articles of clothing, and implements of
use for those who were destitute, and not able to work for
the want of necessary means : these facts, I repeat, when
considered in connexion with the general exemption from
vice and crime, were striking proofs of something like
that genuine spirit of christianity, which has seldom been
witnessed upon earth, but which, as the New Jerusalem
Church advances, will not be so great a stranger amongst
men .
"From seeing, as explained by Swedenborg, that the
Lord’s kingdom is a kingdom of uses, Oberlin resolved
all the exertions and operations of his life into one
element-USE. He taught his people, that to be useful,
and to shun all evil as sin against the Lord, in being
useful, is the truly heavenly life. On this account, when
his flock assembled in the church on the week-day, to
hear from their beloved pastor some instructive and
edifying discourse, the females brought with them their
knitting, needlework, and platting, and thus worked with
their hands, whilst their minds were being instructed in
various kinds of useful knowledge. His discourse on
some week-day evening was not exclusively theological
and religious, although religion was blended with every
thing he said ; but it frequently conveyed some eminently
practical ideas on the various useful arts of common life.
These useful ideas on the concerns of ordinary life were
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